New Zealand limits sale of synthetic drugs

Updated
July 14, 2013 07:00:00

The New Zealand government has implemented laws which restrict the sale of synthetic drugs - something Australia has been considering. But there are other toxic matters also occupying the minds of New Zealand's politicians this week.

But synthetic drugs weren't the only things to be deemed dangerous and toxic in New Zealand this week, as our Auckland-based correspondent Dominique Schwartz discovered.

DOMINIQUE SCHWARTZ: Currently in New Zealand, a child could walk to the corner store, petrol station or supermarket and come home not only with the milk and bread, but any number of 'legal highs' - synthetic drugs that mimic the effects of illegal substances such as cannabis, cocaine and methamphetamine.

Although legal, some psychoactive substances are far from safe. The National Poisons Centre says emergency health workers across the country have been dealing with a growing number of synthetic drug-related cases, particularly those involving synthetic cannabis - people suffering hallucinations, psychosis, seizures and near-fatal renal failure.

In Sydney just this month, teenager Henry Kwan died after launching himself off a balcony, reportedly thinking he could fly. He'd taken a tablet he believed was LSD.

Under the law passed overwhelmingly by New Zealand's parliament this past week, the sale of synthetic drugs will be restricted to licensed stores and to people aged 18 and older. Manufacturers will have to prove that any psychoactive substance has only a low-risk of harm before it goes on the market.

At the moment, the onus is on regulators to prove a substance is harmful after it goes on sale.

The new law takes effect next month. Anyone who breaks it will face fines of up to half a million dollars or two years' jail. But critics say the legislation will foster a black market in synthetic drugs.

They say real cannabis is safer than its synthetic counterpart, and that only the legalisation of marijuana and other so-called soft illegal drugs will reduce the demand for their manufactured cousins.

Australian law-makers and regulators will no doubt be watching the New Zealand experience closely.

On the subject of mind-altering chemicals, some New Zealanders have been wondering what one political commentator was taking this week when he stormed into the twitter-sphere to proclaim a coup was on against opposition Labour leader David Shearer.

Perhaps the former TV3 News political editor, now radio host Duncan Garner, was tripping.

Or maybe he was just gee-ed up by the recent leadership spill across the Tasman.

But even seasoned political hacks in the Wellington press gallery seemed surprised when he tweeted on Tuesday night that David Shearer was set to resign.

There's no denying the former United Nations worker who took over Labour's leadership a year-and-a-half ago has struggled to resonate with voters.

An opinion poll last month found that only 12 per cent of respondents wanted Mr Shearer as prime minister - 65 per cent, five times more, prefer the incumbent PM, John Key.

Nevertheless, speculation about Mr Shearer's security of tenure has been relatively low-key - until the Gillard-Rudd spectacular in Canberra gave journalists here a platform to draw comparisons.

But Duncan Garner took it to a whole new level when he tweeted that a letter of no confidence was circulating amongst Labour MPs and that it was all over for David Shearer.

Mr Garner then went on air saying a fellow journalist had the letter and was about to go on late night TV news with it. But when contacted, that colleague said he was relaxing at home in his pyjamas - peach coloured, I'm told - no letter in sight.

Labour MPs demanded an apology from Duncan Garner, using most variations of the word excrement to describe his claims. While there's been no public "sorry", the journalist in question has beaten a retreat, though one gets the impression he may just be regrouping - or coming down.

Who knows?

He did smoke synthetic cannabis for a much-publicised story a few weeks ago.

As far as many politicians are concerned, it's not just dangerous synthetic drugs that need banning but the speculative highs enjoyed by some in the political pack.